Orange little

A couple days ago we have found this Orange in a cellar. He was living here for about week. Where is his owner? He was very thin, dirty and hungry. Really he is very tender and kind cat. Now we have 2 cats in my family :)

labels with embroidery

Here are knitted socks with embroidered labels. My little son and me found a great nanny! So I'm back to my studio of embroideries Stitch.ee. And that's my first work at this year :)

Machine embroidery on a Brother PR600

secret santa

Picture by Jean Leclerc

Pssst! I'm Secret Santa :) The Secret Santa is a game played by the European Streetteam on Etsy. The idea behind the Secret Santa is that you make something for a teammember and you also receive a gift yourself. It is great fun guessing who's your Secret Santa too. There are 101 Secret Santas in our team! :)

That's not yet all. Each teammember was filled a quiestionnaire for the best matching of Santas. So every friday you'll find a post about Secret Santa in the ArtMind's blog. It's very funny! :)

set "Golden Garnet"

Christmas is coming! Any woman wishes to have a celebratory dress and a celebratory sparkling jewelry to be queen. I think that gorgeous sparkle Swarovski crystals and golden pearls are great to this evening.

Buy this set for $49

interview with me

It's nice day today! The little interview with me is published in the Beads Perles blog. On the picture (I know that the photo is terrible) is my very first serious work - beaded pendant on a crocheted bead rope - with cute name "The Forest Fairy". Used ceramic donut and czech seed beads in deep green color.

Many thanks to Beads-Perles.blogspot.com! :)

FIBIT

FIBIT - Fashion is Back in Tallinn! On the 2-4 October in the Viru Centre will be opened Fashion Market. Many fashion designers are coming from Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. At these days in Viru Centre would be high-level fashion shows and everybody can see the unique designs of clothes. My sister Anna made a collection too - she sewed some originals clothes. She is so kind and will take my jewelries and accessories to these Fashion days too :)

Haapsalu shawl, part 2

It is begun! It was the difficult beginning. Today it is knitted already about 50 rows. Used yarn Merino Oro 100% wool (100g = 1250m/ 1375 yds), knit needles nr. 3.0 and 4.0
Pattern: Queen Silvia shawl (kuninganna Silvia koekiri)

knitted lace of Estonia - Haapsalu shawl, part 1

Estonia has a long history of knitting and is home to some of the oldest knitted artefacts in Northern Europe, dating from the end of the XIII century. On the west coast of Estonia is the resort town of Haapsalu, famous for its thirteenth-century castle ruins, curative mud baths, and pleasant beaches. From the early XVIII century until 1918, when Russia ruled Estonia, it was during this period that Haapsalu became a destination for tourists and a flourishing resort town. The women of Haapsalu, being industrious and creative, began a cottage industry of knitting lace shawls that has continued into the XXI century.

The Estonians had no written instructions for their patterns - the techniques and designs were handed down from one generation to the next. Stitch patterns were preserved on long knitted samplers or on individual sample pieces. The knitter would study the sample and decipher the pattern without the aid of charts or written instructions.

This book is the first one with detailed instructions of techniques and patterns. In Estonia a true Haapsalu shawls (square, triangular and rectangular shawls) are made with openwork lace patterns, and if there is a lacy edge, it is always knitted separately and sewn to the completed center section by hand.

The Haapsalu shawl is so very lacy and thin that it is possible to drag a shawl through a ring.

Why I had written so much about Haapsalu shawl? Because I was started knitting the one :)

cute gifts

I get these pretty animals from Tanya, who comes to me from Moscow for one day only. She likes to crochet lovely toys and it's her hobby.

This tiger is very unusual, he loves nuts. His tail is fluffy with a pink pompon :)

Cute pink rabbit like to read books about garden, he's very clever rabbit :)

And lovely bear searches for the honey. They all are living now on my bookshelf.